


Dancing On My Own

by miraculousstorytelling



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Fluff, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M, resolved angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-17 00:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8122717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculousstorytelling/pseuds/miraculousstorytelling
Summary: Inspired by the song of the same name. When Keith sees Lance kissing someone at a celebration, he realizes at the worst possible moment that he, in fact, might be in love with Lance.





	

Keith watched the aliens milling about the castle's main receiving room. After the fifth thanks-for-forming-Voltron-and-saving-us-all party, Keith was tired of what felt increasingly like a violation of his home. The other paladins were spread amongst the guests, leaving Keith to idly sip at his unusually flavored drink. At least it wasn't Nunvil.

"Is that normal human behavior?" A soft hiss reached Keith's ear, and he perked up, glancing over at the murmuring figure. "To behave like that with a perfect stranger?"

Keith frowned, looking around for what would undoubtedly be Lance aggressively flirting with someone. Luckily, their visitors were nearly a head shorter than Lance and Keith, which made finding him easy.

Not that Keith was prepared for what he saw when he _did_ find Lance.

The familiar blue of Lance's paladin armor entered his awareness first, followed closely by the realization that Lance's tongue was undoubtedly down his companion's throat. Keith's grip on his cup tightened, and he could almost feel his throat constrict in... In what? Anger? Probably, anger. Lance was being reckless again. Anger made sense.

So, why was Keith crying?

He hesitated to admit that was why his eyes burned and his vision blurred, but even he couldn't deny that tears were definitely building in the corners of his sight. So, maybe he wasn't angry. Maybe he was...

Was he jealous?

Keith hated to even imagine the possibility that he was jealous. If he were jealous, that would mean he wanted to kiss Lance, which was absolutely _absurd_...

Or was it?

In fact, Keith could imagine the sensation of kissing Lance all too easily. The soft feel of his hair between Keith's fingertips. The smell of the castle's soap and light, floral shampoo. The taste of that too-sweet punch Lance always drank at parties. The sensation of that smooth, pampered skin as Keith grazed his bare palm over Lance's jaw and shoulders...

Keith jerked back to reality and angrily brushed the tears from his eyes.

Well, this was an inconvenient time to realize he was maybe, possibly in love with Lance.

He sank back against the wall, staring at the two of them, and wishing he could will himself to walk away or looks anywhere else. Lance broke apart from the girl and pulled her into another kiss, angling gently and smiling into her lips.

Keith knew he had no right to be jealous or upset. Lance was barely his friend, and they certainly weren't a couple. Still, reminding himself of their invented rivalry did little to ease the sting of watching Lance so close and so happy with someone else. Keith couldn't tear his eyes away, despite the very real and pressing possibility that Lance might actually see him at any moment if the two of them managed to separate for more than a quick gulp of air.

As the scandalized murmurings grew, Keith looked around, hoping one of the others had noticed. Allura was deep in conversation with one of the ambassadors, and Shiro was close by, keeping a close eye on everyone close to the doors that would lead to the rest of the castle. Hunk was happily chatting with one of the royal scientists, and Pidge was too short for Keith to easily locate. Even Coran was busying himself chatting with one of the royal advisors, leaving exactly zero possibility someone else would deal with this.

Keith discarded his cup and took a steadying breath before finally walking over to the two of them and tugging Lance away, ordering softly, "Cut it out. People are talking."

To his credit, Lance blushed and looked away. The alien looked faintly pleased with herself, as though distracting one of the great paladins was a prize in and of itself. Keith grimaced and quickly released Lance's arm to return to his corner, ignoring the stares directed his way.

The king stepped up just in time to distract them with a speech that Keith ignored. Then, much to Keith's disappointment, an orchestra assembled, and most of the guests broke into pairs. Lance offered his hand to the alien he'd kissed earlier, and Keith looked away, focusing on Shiro, who was dancing with Allura. Hunk and Pidge paired off and invited Keith to join them, but he declined.

Instead, he observed and found himself swaying to the rise and fall of the music. As more guests joined the dance, Keith grew bolder and silently practiced the moves away from the view of the crowd. He couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to dance with someone else. Of course, his mind helpfully supplied the image of Lance dancing with him, and wasn't that just an emotional suckerpunch. Still, Keith's heart melted at the thought of Lance's hands on his, thinking of that adorable, irritating smile lighting up the room...

Maybe Keith was a little in love with Lance.

"You know, this is supposed to be a couple's dance."

The voice jolted him out of a bittersweet daydream, and Keith frowned. "Yeah, but I dance better alone."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Come on. Dance with me."

"In your dreams." Keith scoffed.

Lance was silent for a long moment, and Keith looked over at him.

"What?"

Lance shrugged, then he grabbed Keith's arm and tugged him onto the main dance floor. "Come on, mullet."

Keith protested, yanking back on his arm, but Lance had the element of surprise on his side, and Keith quickly found himself in the middle of a group of dancers. Lance could swear he heard Pidge snicker as they passed.

Lance placed one hand on Keith's waist and the other on his shoulder. "Ready?"

"I'm not doing this," Keith insisted, hating how his heart raced at even this brief contact. He couldn't quite bring himself to push Lance away.

"Come on, it's a party! Have some fun!"

Keith raised a brow. "Seems like you were having enough fun for two." Embracing his bitterness helped him fight against the urge to give in and see just what an alien waltz with Lance would feel like. "Besides, what happened to your dance partner?" That gave him the strength to remove Lance's hands.

"She...left early," Lance answered, glancing away. "Something didn't agree with her."

"Yeah, kissing you'd make me sick, too," Keith murmured, folding his arms over his chest.

"Funny," Lance grumbled, tugging Keith's hands into position on Lance's shoulder and waist. "She was jealous, actually."

"Really? I didn't see you making out with anyone else."

Lance replaced his hands on Keith's shoulder and side as he slowly led them in the simple dance. "I didn't."

"Was she jealous that everyone else learned their partner's names before kissing them?" Keith joked, hoping the heat in his cheeks wasn't translating to a visible blush. Dancing with Lance was even better than he imagined, despite the awkward bulk of the armor they both wore.

Lance grimaced. "She was jealous of..." His voice trailed off, and Lance shook his head. "Never mind."

Keith rolled his eyes and stopped dancing long enough to take the lead. "Was it Allura?"

"No." Lance must have been distracted, because he didn't even protest when Keith took over. "It was you."

Keith stopped mid-step. "What?"

"She said she was jealous of the way you looked at me." Lance's voice was surprisingly quiet as he spoke.

"What?" The question was softer this time, more broken and vulnerable than before.

"I don't know." Lance shrugged. "I guess she thought you were in love with me or something."

Keith stepped back, his breath frustratingly erratic as he eyed Lance. " _What_?" Was it really so obvious?

Lance glanced up at him. "Yeah, she... She said you kept staring."

Keith nearly choked on the instinctive denial already leaping to his tongue, but instead he looked away.

Lance shifted uncomfortably as he continued. "And, I wanted to...know..."

Keith tensed. "Know what?" He was acutely aware of the dancers around them watching their every move.

"If it was true."

"If I..." The words caught in his throat.

Lance nodded. "Yeah."

"I..." Keith turned around, "I think the punch was off. I'm feeling sick."

"Keith?"

He slipped out of the crowd, quickly heading for the door that led to the rest of the castle, heading straight for his room. At the moment, Keith didn't care if Allura was upset that he left early. He didn't care if it offended the aliens they'd just saved. He didn't even care if it disappointed Shiro. He just needed to be alone.

He locked himself in his room, too furious with himself to cry and too hurt to scream. Instead, he sought that familiar numbness that always chased away the ache of unwanted emotions. As if to spite him, his mind conjured up nothing but Lance: a vision of Lance dancing, the feel of Lance's hands on him, the surprising smell of vanilla lotion lingering in the air... Everything about Lance ate away at him. He couldn't think, couldn't-

An insistent knock cut off his panic.

"Keith!" Lance shouted, pounding on the door.

Keith cringed.

"Come on, let me in!"

Maybe if he ignored it long enough, Lance might leave him alone.

"Please."

That nearly broke him. Keith almost walked over to the door just at the pleading, desperate note in Lance's voice.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." Lance grimaced and sagged forward, resting his forehead on the door, "I think...I might be in love with you, too."

Keith could swear his heart somersaulted in his chest. "But, you... You were kissing someone else."

"I didn't think I had a chance with you."

Keith slowly approached the door, "You what?"

"I... I'm pretty sure this rivalry was, like, a screwed up way to flirt?" Lance sighed. "You were always way better. At everything. You didn't seem interested."

"Neither did you." Keith frowned. "You were always trying to..." Then, it dawned on him. "You were trying to impress me."

Lance shrugged. "Pretty stupid, huh?"

The door slid open, and Keith pulled Lance inside, barely waiting for the door to slide closed again before he shoved Lance back against the wall. He looked Lance over, noting the blush creeping over Lance's cheeks, and he smirked. "Yeah. It was." Lance gulped at the raw edge to Keith's voice.

Then, Keith moved forward, pressing into the awkward angles of their armor as he cupped Lance's jaw and kissed him.

Actually kissing Lance, not just the Lance of his imagination, was absolutely beyond anything Keith could have guessed. He had imagined the feel of Lance's meticulously moisturized skin, but the reality was so much softer. Keith ached to feel it without the gloves of his armor in the way. While he'd expected the lingering fruity taste of Altean punch, when Keith moved closer and cautiously brushed his tongue over Lance's lips, he was caught off guard by the sweet minty taste of his chapstick. And when Lance jerked back and stared, his pupils wide and breath coming out in short gasps, Keith felt weak.

Yeah, he definitely loved Lance.

A knock startled both of them, Shiro's voice sounding from just outside, "Keith? Is everything alright?"

"Y-Yeah, fine," Keith answered.

"Is Lance with you?"

"Yep!" Lance managed to reply, though his voice was strained.

"I just needed a break," Keith added, reluctantly looking away from the incredible sight of Lance's dazed eyes to glance at the door, "We'll head back in a few minutes."

"We will?" Lance murmured, brows furrowed.

Keith chuckled.

"All right," Shiro answered slowly, "Take as long as you need."

Keith hummed in agreement as he turned his attention back to Lance. Keith gently brushed his thumb over Lance's lips, voice soft as he asked, "Was that...?"

Lance nodded.

"Okay, cause I'm not..." Keith blushed as his voice trailed off. His hand fell to rest on Lance's chest plate.

Slowly, he understood, and Lance grinned. "Was that your first kiss?"

"Shut up," Keith grumbled.

"And you went for tongue. Bold."

Keith laughed. "We should go back."

"Yeah." Lance gently cupped the back of Keith's neck, "We should." He pressed a light kiss to Keith's lips, and Keith was a little ashamed of the way his breath hitched.

"Shiro did say to take our time," Keith amended quietly as Lance trailed soft kisses down the length of his jaw.

Lance communicated his agreement with a deep, languid kiss. Keith's mind swam with the heady sensation of Lance's tongue in his mouth, of the rich scent of Lance's aftershave, of Lance's fingertips brushing over his scalp, of the soft rush of Lance's breath over his lips when they repositioned for a better angle...

Keith moaned softly as Lance wrapped an arm around his waist to pull him closer. The sound never made it past Lance's lips. Keith steadied himself, one hand on the wall behind Lance, the other the nape of Lance's neck. The clack of armor plating drew his attention back to reality, and Keith reluctantly pulled away.

He savored the way Lance whimpered as he broke contact. But, they had a party to attend, and Keith wanted to take his time exploring all the possibilities that came with loving Lance.

"We should head back."

Lance sighed. "You're right." His eyes wandered, observing every inch of Keith as Keith stepped back.

Keith fought to conceal a smirk. Lance might actually like him, Keith realized as joy blossomed in his chest.

"So, what does this mean... for...us," Lance asked, fidgeting with the edge of a piece of armor.

"It means I have a new way to shut you up," Keith answered with a smile, earning a short laugh from Lance. He extended a hand, "Let's talk after the party."

Lance smiled, lacing his fingers in Keith's. "Fine. But, just so we're clear..."

"I think I'm in love with you, too," Keith finished for him. It was easier to say when he focused on their hands, rather than Lance's hopeful expression.

Lance relaxed, falling into an easy smile Keith had never realized was quite so gorgeous until that moment. "Okay."

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on tumblr under klance-my-way


End file.
